bisonguy

Thanks for proving my point about the GF media. How about- If Thundar jumps into a swimming pool and Sue is watching. Does Sue just go ahead and jump in because the only reasoning is fueled by hatred, driven by pride and emotion, and makes no logical or financial sense?

~900k with the extra football game.

Good grief, where to begin? That's my opinion, contrary to your opinion.

Urging while degrading and taking jabs at DI (which NDSU was in the process of moving to). Maybe it was pure coincidence, maybe it was sniping from the comfort of an ivory belltower towards NDSU. IF the Herald had not been so derogatory towards DI (while NDSU was in the process of transition to DI) and attempted to prove UND fit better in DII while stating the benefits of DII, my opinion would be different. Tearing down DI to make DII appear more illustrious seems to have some other motive besides hushing the "If NDSU can do it, why can't we?" crowd. So far, nothing has been documented to counter Bakken's opinion, therefore, that's the GF media's stance as can be proven on an internet message board. NDSU isn't. They left UND behind, and now UND is following NDSU around like a puppy. Why are you so concerned about the love and support of Fargo and NDSU? The (Fargo) Media and the DI-AA Issue

I never said that they directly did. I stated that the Herald degraded any reason to go DI, directly after NDSU stated they were moving to DI. Try to follow along:(no insults intended, and are for illustrational purposes only ) You tell me you drive a BMW. I state that everyone that drives a BMW is a pompous, stupid, egotistical jerk and that anyone with more than half a brain would drive a Mercedes-Benz. Could that be considered an insult towards you? Once again, has the GF media stated anything positive about NDSU's move to DI?

PCM, I'm not going to argue about semantics. You asked for some evidence, and I provided some evidence. Unfortunately, the only Grand Forks media source that is archived on the internet is the Herald, so finding the rest of the GF media comments is nearly impossible While not directly mentioning NDSU, the following quote during the given time frame (the week after NDSU announced they were moving to DI), seems to be paint a dark picture for a school that is moving to DI SOURCE Or this little gem? SOURCE Once again, not directly stating that NDSU should stay DII, but this one is a little more obvious with the reference of scandals, victory riots, and financial hemorrhaging in DI. Sounds like armageddon for any DI school. (Gene Taylor should read the Herald- here NDSU is DI-A, but he keeps scheduling these DI-AA teams ) Can you cite any examples of the GF media actually being supportive or positive about NDSU's move to DI?

I fulfilled the request.

I read that one. The sarcasm was obvious, but is missing from some of his other columns.

No. Ryan Bakken article: Tue, May. 28, 2002 NDSU had the Carr Report on Jan 23, 2002, had a meeting to see if the NCC would move up as a group on May 19, 2002, and made the decision to move to DI on August 31, 2002.

Or maybe it's just interpreted as such.

How about this?- Bisons' D-I move doesn't make sense Better yet, why hasn't Bakken applied items 1-6 to UND's possible move?

Pat Sweeney asked Lennon the same thing on the coaches show. Are you saying that Pat Sweeney is an idiot?

elmduf, Don't forget to throw in academic quality and mission. I'm not trying to start a quantitative argument, but rather I would state that NDSU, UND, and SDSU could be viewed as peers to Montana, Montana State, etc. I don't know enough about UNC's academics to make a call on them. Southern Utah has been rejected from the Big Sky before, mainly because of academics. Remember, it is the presidents of the universities that vote, not the AD's.

Delaware, last year's I-AA champion, had profits in excess of $1.4MM last year. EDIT- That number is strictly a football derived number, as opposed to Sicatoka's total budget numbers.

The president of Sac State is on record as stating they will evaluate the athletic department, including looking at conference affiliation.

Shouldn't that be the Division I Answer? Looks like the letter of interest has been sent off to the Big Sky from UND. The questionaire was not filled out, but is not required at this point in the process. Doug Fullerton stated that UND must show interest in moving to DI to be considered. The above from WDAY 6:00 sports.

Sicatoka, The $1MM for the locker rooms was not donated (at least not towards building the locker rooms). It was during the discussion phases between NDSU and the Fargodome Authority. The anonymous donor stated that he would foot the bill for the locker rooms. The locker rooms are still in that "city-owned building, NDSU owns the land and is the primary tenant, who should pay the bill, what exactly does NDSU want in the offices/locker rooms and what will the actual cost be?" limbo land.

The fumble when UND was driving (for the lead, if memory serves me right) didn't help much either. Both of those plays seemed to have an effect on momentum.

Much higher oil prices=much higher travel costs=not feasible to move up when travel would be greatly increased and the costs of those travels are much more expensive because of the increased cost of gasoline.

Cratter, Roger Thomas stated on WDAY's Hot Talk that there were about a dozen schools, other than those that had already expressed interest(NDSU, SDSU, UNC, SUU, and possibly more), that were sent letters from the Big Sky encouraging them to express interest. So, another question to ask is who are these other schools? Some of my guesses- UC-Davis, Cal-Poly (both of which will not leave the Big West for a conference that includes a vast greater travel budget and offers fewer sports that they offer- especially with Sac St. looking at "other options"), Idaho, possibly Wyoming, USD, maybe even UNO, Denver (if they haven't already expressed interest anonymously), and who knows who else? When are those IAC minutes from the last two months going to be updated?

I hold the opinion that The Forum is actually trying to find out and report what UND is doing in respect to looking at DI, rather than just publishing the press releases from UND. Do any of you honestly believe that editorials by The Forum would force Kupchella's hand in moving UND to DI? Do you think that Chapman was in any way influenced by Ryan Bakken's condemning editorial of NDSU's move in The Herald? star2city, You pose some interesting questions, however, I have a hard time believing that The Forum knows anything about the Big Sky preferring a NDSU/UND combo to NDSU/SDSU combo, especially when it's not sure that the Big Sky will expand. Major benefit to NDSU/UND: established rivalry that may only be surpassed by Montana/Montana State in the Big Sky, who otherwise doesn't have much in the way of large rivalries. Major benefit to NDSU/SDSU: nearly twice the media exposure that NDSU/UND would have. From what I have seen/heard (although not much in the last couple months) is that the Mid-Con has no interest in expanding. The next couple of months will indeed be interesting.

NDSU's wrestling will have a conference home, as soon as they are tourney eligible in the 2006-2007 season. NDSU, SDSU, Air Force, Northern Iowa, Fresno State, Wyoming, Eastern Illinois, and Utah Valley State will form the Western Wrestling Conference in 2006.

Why should The Forum bother to publish athletic budget shortfalls, when it's public information right here?- http://ope.ed.gov/athletics/InstList.asp FY2004- North Dakota State- -$40,406 University of North Dakota- -$406,724 Last year's numbers were fairly similar. As far as a $1MM budget shortfall for NDSU, a lot may have happened since the beginning of the fiscal year (when it was announced). I'm fairly sure UND did not project a loss of over $400k last year. Projections and actual numbers are two entirely different things. Now, the question that should be raised is "How can a school with ten times the athletic budget shortfall possibly consider being able to fund a move to DI?"